LifeLinks Mission and History

On June 14, 1955 the Lowell Association for Retarded Children (LARC) was formed by a group of forty-two parents seeking to create a place where they and their disabled children would find dignity, respect, solace, comfort and camaraderie: a place where they were able to just be themselves. In the ensuing years, the organization never wavered from the commitments of that first group of parents as they sought to create a safe haven of support. Now, LifeLinks continues to hold true to that original vision as articulated in our new mission statement:

Our foundation as an agency was built by families for families; to that end we have offered support and services even before there was a formal option available for families, before there was a Department of Mental Retardation (DMR) / Department of Developmental Services (DDS), or a formal state funded mechanism for service provision. Throughout the 1960’s and early 1970’s LARC provided services and supports to children and families seeking community based, home centered options for services. When the time came in the 1970’s we championed group home placements in the community for those families who were choosing community living over institutions. During the 80’s and 90’s we entered into significant growth and development of state funded contract programs and expanded our service base to well over 500 individuals served per year. By 2000 we began to move toward the agency that we are today.  Click here to see the LifeLinks Strategic Plan for the future or fill out our contact form to get more information.

LifeLinks is a dynamic organization that has built a reputation for serving those who often are forced to the fringes of society and the service network: medically fragile and individuals with complex medical conditions, court involved and clinically and behaviorally complex individuals, elders who are both frail and compromised in terms of their memory and cognition.

Our current vision is to continue to build on the foundational under-pinning of our founding families: continuing to offer the best services offered in the most optimal manner for the most effective results: enhancing the lives of the person with a developmental disability - by following "The LifeLinks Way".

"The LifeLinks Way" is:

To be the premiere, preferred and quintessential provider of services to individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities that live, work and play in Greater Lowell and the Merrimack Valley.

To ensure that our service offerings and support services are and will remain of the highest quality as viewed by the persons we currently serve, by those who fund and evaluate our programs, services and supports, and by the community at large.

To offer individually focused and clinically sound supports to persons who have been labeled as "difficult" to serve.  We will go the extra mile needed to ensure their individual and collective success and to assure that their ability to achieve a full life is recognized and supported.

To provide to our staff challenging and rewarding work, coupled with opportunities for professional growth and development.  We will be viewed as one of the best places to work.

We are a valued resource in our community and we value the importance of our history as the foundation for the work we do today.

We will always be a trusted partner with our funders and supporters, a careful steward of the resources entrusted to us, and a devoted friend to those whom we support with care, concern, and comfort.

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